13:10:20 CEST

13:13:54 CEST

Good news: Tony Martin will be at the start today. He suffered a lot of damage in yesterday's big crash, but has been cleared to ride today. At least he will start – whether he will finish is another question entirely.

13:23:41 CEST

Note that the last climb comes on 12 km before the finish. Will this make a difference to today's outcome?

13:27:26 CEST

It is a short stage today, only 156.5 km, so we have a later start. And it is warm and sunny today, we haven't had a lot of race days like that this year!

13:30:32 CEST

A number of riders were caught up in yesterday's crashes, including Alberto Contador (Saxo-Tinkoff), who ended up rather bumped and bruised. If he is not in top condition today, will the other teams see this as an opportunity to step on the gas and try to dump him along the way?

13:32:59 CEST

The race has started, we are now off on the neutralized section.

13:33:25 CEST

Kittel glowing with yellow today, he even has a yellow helmet.

13:35:07 CEST

Our first crash of the day yesterday was Chris Froome in the neutralized section, let's hope we don't have a repeat today!

13:36:38 CEST

Jens Voigt is up at the race director's car, having a serious discussion. Probably saying, "No stuck buses today, ok?"

13:38:21 CEST

After all those nasty crashes yesterday, we are happy to report that all 198 riders are still in the race today.

13:40:52 CEST

Off we go! We have the sharp start, and immediately we have our first attack. Looks like a Belkin rider.

13:41:45 CEST

No break yet, lots of riders trying to form one, though.

13:43:39 CEST

Looks like two riders have dashed out to a small lead. "Small" being the key word here....

13:46:27 CEST

We now have four riders up ahead, including the ever-young Voigt. A Belkin rider is trying to join them.

13:48:58 CEST

No Voigt in the group. Instead we have David Veilleux (Europcar), Blel Kadri (AG2R), Ruben Perez (Euskaltel) and Lars Boom (Belkin). So far they have 13 seconds.

13:51:08 CEST

The gap is now at 1:31. Julien Simon of Sojasun is dangling between the field and the break group.

13:55:35 CEST

Boom was also in the break group yesterday.

13:56:32 CEST

Tony Martin is looking rather mummy-like today, with all has bandages and wrappings.

13:58:40 CEST

The gap is now 2:52, with Simon about 40 seconds ahead of he field.

13:59:56 CEST

Oops, let's make that: Simon is now only about 40 seconds behind the lead group.

14:02:55 CEST

There is not much flat in today's stage. It starts out with a gradual ascent up to the first three climbs of the day, which come fairly quickly after each other, with nothing in between. After the third climb, there is a long descent – about 35 km – before a tiny flat section, followed by the last little climb and then a flattish run-in to the finish line.

14:03:39 CEST

Simon is now 1:13 behind the four leaders. Might be a good idea to just drop back, we think.

136km remaining from 156km

14:07:15 CEST

The gaps are now 1:51 to Simon and 2:21 to the peloton.

133km remaining from 156km

14:09:37 CEST

That was it for Simon. He is back in the field now.

14:10:23 CEST

Geraint Thomas was oe of yesterday's crash victims as well, and he is at the very back of the peloton.

14:14:34 CEST

A mechanical for Philippe Gilbert. BMC is there to help, but he has a way to go now to catch up again.

14:20:15 CEST

Geraint Thomas of Sky has dropped back to see the race doctor, we hear. He was taken to hospital after yesterday's stage, but fortunately proved to have broken nothing.

124km remaining from 156km

14:21:08 CEST

There is one intermediate sprint today, and it is coming up shortly.

14:21:48 CEST

Gilbert is back in the peloton, which is now more than three minutes behind the break group.

14:23:03 CEST

The fourseome picks up their pace as they near the sprint line, but they don't actually sprint for it, and Boom takes the points.

14:23:55 CEST

Boom and Veilleux have a few words after the sprint. Nice words, that is, not angry words.

14:24:52 CEST

The sprinters who lost out on the sprint finish yesterday will be looking to pick up points at the intermediate sprint. Cannondale jumps into the fray to help out Sagan. But Cavendish and Greipel are also there.

14:25:40 CEST

Kittel lets them go, and Greipel takes the fifth-place points, ahead of Sagan. Cavendish and Danny Van Poppel took the next places.